Certain refrigerator appliances include an ice making assembly. To produce ice, liquid water is directed to an ice maker of the ice making assembly and frozen. A variety of ice types can be produced depending upon the particular ice maker used. For example, certain ice makers include a mold body for receiving liquid water. An auger within the mold body can rotate and scrape ice off an inner surface of the mold body to form ice nuggets. Such ice makers are generally referred to as nugget style ice makers. Certain consumers prefer nugget style ice makers and their associated ice nuggets.
Ice nuggets are generally stored in an ice bucket at temperatures above the freezing temperature of liquid water to maintain a texture of the ice nuggets. An agitator is often provided in the ice bucket and a dispenser motor is provided to rotate the agitator. The agitator may be rotated within the ice bucket to urge ice nuggets from the ice bucket to a dispenser. When stored at temperatures above freezing, ice nuggets can melt and liquid water from melted ice nuggets can collect within the ice bucket. The liquid water can negatively affect performance of the refrigerator appliance and can be difficult to remove. In particular, liquid water can damage or negatively affect performance of electrical components, such as motors. Thus, many ice making assemblies position the dispenser motor above the ice bucket to avoid liquid water reaching the dispenser motor from the ice bucket.
When the dispenser motor is positioned above the ice bucket, the agitator is typically connected to the dispenser motor by interengaging gears. During operation, the agitator may be subject to significant torque, e.g., when ice nuggets become lodged in the ice bucket, particularly in corners and when partially melted nuggets clump together. In such instances, the interengaging gears may slip, producing undesirable audible effects and reduced performance of the ice dispensing system.
Accordingly, an ice dispensing system with a robust and disengagable connection between the dispenser motor and the agitator would be useful.